Ruin ● Resurrection
by Liquid-Goddess-Reformation
Summary: Demons and creatures of the dead reak havok, Necromancers slip away like wind through the Herald-Mage's fingers. Ruin is inevitable, but can a newly chosen man be their savior? And can the Heralds except this stranger? UPDATED! CHAPT.6 UP!
1. The Mists of Uncertainty

I am not Misty. I don't own anything that has to do with Valdemar, they don't belong to me (though I wish certain male characters did! O.o) So don't sue me, please. I'm dead broke anyways.

This has some elements that is sort of borrowed from Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom trilogy, but I didn't think it was enough that I needed to put as a crossover, although I wanted to give him a little credit. If you like fantasy, _definitely_ check it out, its _awesome_!

I'm roughly basing this story directly after Owl Knight although slightly before could also work. I'm also assuming that Elspeth and Darkwind are back from Hardarn by now (I mean it's been quite a few years since The Mage Storms'n stuff so…). Don't hate me, please.

Oh yes, and this is my first story on a Misty book, or any book at all really, please remember to review and tell me what you think!

**Ruin ● Resurrection**

By LGR

**Chapter One: The Mists of Uncertainty**

--☼--

Herald-Mage Elspeth, Darkwind K'shena and Queen's Own Herald Talia listened to the Herald before them with growing disbelief, as well as dread.

"—I'm serious! Question me under truth-spell if you don't believe me! Those things were _dead_!" The Herald said with great ire as he caught the looks of skepticism being flashed between his three questioners. He was shaking with a suppressed desire to crawl under his bed and never leave again, as well as the need to prove to those listening to him, the truth of his words.

The Herald in question had been on a Routine Circuit as he was returning to Haven. Less than a day away from the capital by companion, he'd stopped at a Village called Hollytree to help the villagers with some sort of problem.

"Herald Gerard, could you please repeat your testimony from the point after you arrived at the village?" Talia asked as calmingly as she could while still sounding respectful.

The man sighed exhaustively but he did re-begin his tale in a slightly irritated fashion: "I had past through a village not far from Hollytree called Mason's Town earlier to get a good meal. I'd wanted a break from circuit rations, you know?"

Talia nodded understanding, as Elspeth and Darkwind continued to listen.

"Well, when I got to the inn, it was crammed full. I went to the inn keeper and asked why the inn was so crowded. He told me it was because of some business going down in Hollytree. Apparently half of the villagers had left it because of the awful things that were happening. I asked him 'what kinds of things? Why isn't the guard taking care of it?' That's when one of the guests in the inn joined the conversation. 'the guard can't do anything!' this one man told me, 'they already done all they can, I haven't heard anything from the town in a week! Something is _definitely_ wrong out there!' Of course, what was I to say to that? By this time, Semnal (my companion, you'll remember), and I were curious as hell. We asked around some more but we did hear of anything definite, but what we did hear was damn strange!"

"What did you hear?" Elspeth asked, intrigued.

"I heard people talk of folks disappearing, old people dropping dead when it seamed like they were fine. Graves robbed, odd shapes being seen at night when everyone in the town was accounted for. An odd stench in the air for no reason, huge black birds in the air all the time, but they weren't any from around that area. Any liquid left outside frozen by morning even though it was a warm night. Supposedly their stream was frozen solid for two weeks and might still have been." He told them.

The Hawkbrother and Two heralds nodded as they contemplated the odd phenomena described. All were both confused and worried.

_: Darkwind? Did any of that ring any bells? :_ Elspeth asked using mind-speech.

: _Not a wit of it. It all would seem like coincidence or paranoia except for all of it together, and some of the things described are pretty suspicious themselves. I can understand why everyone was spooked.: _Darkwind responded.

_: We haven't heard anything from the city guards about this, either…:_

"So, Semnal and I figure that something is up. We ride down to the city the next day—really early, it's still dark even—and there isn't a soul in sight, the town is completely abandoned. We checked as many of the houses as would have been practical, but there was _no one there_; no one. Not even any of the city guard. At this point Semnal and I are starting to get a little uneasy. If what the villagers said was true, than everyone was leaving; but I didn't think the city guard would have left. And what was it about what had happened that they couldn't handle? Why didn't they call anyone in or tell Haven? _Something_ was going on.

"Then, well… Semnal told me he thought he saw something in some of the woods near the village. We went to check it out, mostly figuring it was an animal or something. It was past dawn already but as we trotted toward the edge of the forest, a huge fog filled the town and the surrounding area, and tons of clouds came out of nowhere. Semnal and I were looking for a way out of the fog and we saw shapes in the distance.

"As the shapes came closer, we could make out that they must be people but…as they got closer…" Herald Gerard began shaking uncontrollably and his speech was short and breathy. His face became as pale as his companion.

Talia used her empathic influence to help calm him enough to finish his story and he did continue after a moment.

"We'd thought they might be the guard…" he said in a whisper, "Oh Hellsfires…were we wrong!"

"What? What did you see?"

"They might have been the guard…but they sure as hell weren't any more! They were dead, all of them, at least a hundred of them. They were corpses!"

"What did they do?" Talia asked comfortingly and came over to his bed in the Healer's Colleguim, to place a hand on his shoulder.

By this time, the Herald was nearly Hyperventilating as well as sobbing uncontrollable with uncontainable fear.

"They tackled both me and Semnal to the ground. And began to rip at us with their nails…it…they…" and the Man broke down and cried into Talia's shoulder. "They nearly Killed Semnal! They almost had him… but Semnal got up and was able to get away with me, dripping tons of blood all the way. Then we galloped full speed here…" he trailed off and looked up at Talia with pleading eyes.

"Semnal's going to be okay, right? That's what the healers tell me but, I…"

Talia smiled at him reassuringly, "Yes, it was really close, he nearly lost too much blood and the shock nearly took him, but he was able to pull through. I saw him, I know."

"Thank the Gods! Thank the gods! I was so worried, I can't bespeak him right now, and I haven't felt anything from him…" The man told them.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." _I hope._

--☼--

_:Solarus?!:_

Solarus looked up from her paperwork to question Hansa at the same as Sunpriest Bernardi came running through the door of her office shouting and raising a roll of parchment.

"Holiness! Holiness! Urgent news from Dawnshill!" the priest shouted with exaggerated distress.

"What is it?" she answered, her current bad mood exacerbated by the priests frivolousness.

"It came by Mage Message only moments ago!" the corpulent old man told her as he handed it to her with a shaking hand. Her cursory glance at him as she took the scroll had her wondering if his sweat was from the heat, his small jaunt of physical exercise, or actual fear.

As she considered this she wondered if the man's urgency and worry had not been exaggerated but actual. Solarus looked down and her face became a confused mess as she read.

_This couldn't be true._

_: It is! Kefrud bespoke me just moments ago and told me of this. Solarus, something must be done!: _

_Sun Lord, help us all. _Kefrud was another Firecat that happened to be in the area of the incident. "Have we any Sun priest mages in the area? If so, send as many as can be spared, rouse the Sunsguard and begin an evacuation of the people. Someone write up a summery for the alliance and have the rough draft sent to me _immediately_!" Bernardi waddled off to do her bidding.

_What is going on? 'undead' attacking priests and townsfolk, demons that cannot be vanquished by normal means?_

_:Solarus, Altra and Karal in Haven report similar occurrences all over Valdemar as well as in Hardarn, Rethwellin and Iftel. So far there is nothing from the Taledras, Shin'a'in, or K'leshya, but they have been placed on alert:_

"Dead and Demons are attacking across the continent? What could be doing this, how is this even possible?" Solarus asked the large feline sitting on her desk.

The cat stared into the distance for a moment then jumped down to the ground and bounded into a patch of sunlight, disappearing.

Solarus glared at where he had been.

And she was still without answers.

--☼--

"Do you see anything Darkwind?"

"No, and there aren't any ley-lines out here, much less a node, especially after The Mage Storms. It couldn't have been a mage; not unless it was a blood-path mage anyways." He told his mate.

They were both in Hollytree Village searching for what Herald Gerard and his companion could possible have seen. They weren't finding anything that looked like a dead City Guardsman (or Guardswoman), much less anything that could have torn a Companion to shreds.

"I sure _hope_ it wasn't a blood-path mage…" Elspeth confided.

"It couldn't have been. Blood magic, any kind of blood magic, not just the evil kind, leaves a sort of magically residue on everything it touches and creates distortions on the magical plain. I can safely say there wasn't any blood-path magic done here, but…" he trailed of and squinted into the distance. It was late afternoon and the sun sunk low in the sky, giving the town a red hue for a few moments until the sun dipped below the horizon. Its presence was immediately missed as a slight steam became known around their feet, and they noticed clouds popping up above them.

"But what?"

"—but something is definitely going on here. It doesn't really feel to me like blood-path magic, but something really odd happened in this town, or rather in that forest back there." He nodded to the expanse of trees not far away.

"Why does it always have to be in a forest? Why can't these weird things ever happen in, say, a glacier?" Elspeth complained cynically.

"Lack of creativity?" Darkwind hazarded.

"Guess so."

"—what was that?" Darkwind said suddenly.

"What was wh—" she cut off her question without bothering to finish as the sound was heard again; a deafening, high-pitched wail and a reverberation that could have been a deep-toned drum. The sound of the drum became clearer and clearer as moments passed and the daylight began to fail as the suns light faded all together and the mist at their feet, spread to their wastes, and the great expanses of shadow left by the houses, grew more menacing as the twilight shifted to darkness.

_: Dearheart! Are you and Darkwind hearing what I'm hearing?: _Gwena asked Elspeth as she cantered up besides

_: Yes, can you tell where it's coming from?:_ Elspeth asked while her and Darkwind were frantically trying to find the direction of the resonances.

_: The North. :_ Gwena said in a "group-voice" so that Darkwind would be included. They all looked to the north and saw shapes coming down the hill.

_This is starting to seem familiar._ Elspeth thought.

_: Mage light?:_ she asked Darkwind.

_: Mage light.:_ he confirmed, and they both sent out orbs of mage-energy toward the unidentifiable figures in the distance. There was little to no light, and their spheres of bluish-white light didn't help the visibility. The fog was now so think that she had trouble making out Darkwind, who was less than a yard from her.

The lights made strange cascading flickers as the density of the fog changed from place to place, sometimes more or less dense; allowing more or less light. As they zoomed soundlessly toward the unknown objects, the light fell upon one and there was an ear-piercing, in-human scream.

Darkwind and Elspeth dropped their heads and covered their ears in an effort to save their hearing. "Hellfires, what _was_ that?" Elspeth exclaimed as the sound died.

"Look!" Darkwind said pointing back up the hill.

With her regular eyes not much happened except that her mage-light inexplicably went out. But with her Mage-sight, she Saw a dark energy shoot from the thing, that had supposedly let out the scream, and envelope the flouting energy, smothering it and then leaving nothing left.

_:By the gods!:_ Gwena mind-called in astonishment but before anyone could hazard a response, the figures surged forward with shrieks, screams and wails as the drums took up a faster beat in the distance. Darkwind took up a tapped pattern with his foot as Elspeth did the same, linking with him and Gwena to get a jump to the nearest, powerful node, all the way in Haven. As the howling crowd came forward, Darkwind almost faltered as his eyes zeroed-in on the rotting flesh of guardsmen and villagers, some little more than skeletons. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Elspeth was as pale as Gwena's bleached coat.

As one, they drank in the energy from the Heartstone in Haven and aimed a Levin-bolt at the crowd of corpses rushing towards them. For an instant, the night was alight as the power manifested itself on the physical plane and they both shaded their sight to preserve night-vision. As the image of the bolt's path faded from their eyes, they could see that it had decimated most of the small army of dead into chock or dust, and the rest weren't moving.

The drums had stopped.

As the initial adrenalin wore off, Elspeth sat on the ground, her knees quaking so much they couldn't hold her steady. "By the gods! _By the gods_! I didn't believe him before, but he was right! Herald Gerard was right!" she said gasping.

"We're not out of the woods yet." Darkwind said as a metallic clang rent the air.

Elspeth mumbled something about "Those gods-be-damned woods again!"

The clatter came three times in quick succession, sounding like a very large, very deep bell, and the fog parted to let through a figure of black. Only its outline could be seen for the clothing seemed of one piece.

It was a woman, and covering her face was a simple, ghostly white mask that covered her entire face, her eyes were glowing, white pits, not a glimpse of her true flesh could be seen.

"_Mages._" It said, and attacked with the same black energy that had engulfed their mage lights. Darkwind and Elspeth threw up a hurried shield to protect themselves and Gwena. The energy exploded as it met the node power. And Darkwind's hold was shaken almost to the point where he dropped the shield all together, but he recovered.

The energy poured from the dark-mage in a sea of endless black power radiating kaleidoscope colors that twisted the dimensional-plain, and causing the weather to go ballistic.

In the last few moments, the clouds had thickened immensely and lightening flickered in the clouds as wind threw them off-balance and rain began to pelt them. The black energy wasn't letting up and Darkwind began to panic.

_Where was she getting this energy?_ With magic being the limited resource it was, he rattled his brain to think of a way out of this. Elspeth was contemplating how long they could keep out the black power. The heartstone at Haven may be the strongest right now, but that didn't mean they could keep drawing on it like this.

Elspeth spontaneously grabbed a large rock from her place on the ground and threw it prominently at the woman. To her shock, the woman didn't move, and the rock hit the mask straight on and the woman's head twisted half way around on her neck as the siphon of power stopped.

Darkwind gasped in relief as the rush of energy lifted, he let down the shield, (its outer-membrane had corroded to a point that they would have been killed if Elspeth hadn't acted when she did.) and aimed energy at the woman.

But before it reached her, her head swiveled back in place and she sliced through the energy with an energy-blade of her own. The power went to either side of her, and exploded behind them, lighting the area with a multi-colored blast, sending up debris into the air as the rain continued to pour down.

Elspeth and Darkwind had scrambled from their places and both mounted Gwena, and they dodged shots of power and deflected as many as hit them, all the while aiming as many shots of their own as they could, most were dodged by the dark-mage, who seemed to be possessed of some in-humanly, liquid motion. Others were blocked, and low powered hits were absorbed.

_: Have you contacted Rolan for help?:_ Elspeth asked Gwena who was dodging and galloping at a mad speed just to keep them all alive; the added weight of bearing _two_ people instead of one cut down on the great speed advantage companions had over regular horses.

_: Yes, but there aren't any Herald-Mage Adepts at Palace right now! They're trying to send whoever they can wouldn't get in the way but it's going to take at least an hour or so!:_

_:We don't have five minutes much less an hour!:_ Elspeth mind-screamed.

--☼--

They'd gotten word from across the Alliance nations that this was happening everywhere, and no one could find a solution, except to pray to the Gods for help.

People were scrambling all over the place, the companions were going crazy, time was running out for Elspeth, Darkwind, and Gwena and there wasn't much any one could do. Farseers were trying focus on the area that the mage battle was occurring, but they were encountering resistance in the form of a murky, kaleidoscope-black energy that could not be penetrated. No foreseer could break through the Mists of Uncertainty. There weren't any powerful Fire-starters near the palace or anywhere else; not any strong enough to be useful.

Every moment the universe seemed to be screaming: _Hurry-up! Hurry up! HURRY-UP!_ No one knew what to do. All were silently listening for the death bell, hoping that it wouldn't ring, and knowing that it likely would, at any minute.

One Companion, amidst the chaos, insecurity, and lamentation, lifted her head and looked towards the grove. She closed her eyes_ —_

―_Sparks scattered and died as the spells inherent in his blade reacted to the energy that ran within the Eikei. He pushed the scissor-like limbs of the Eikei demon away and slashed again at the flesh made from shadow energy. The Eikei screeched and brought it's razored limbs to bare. But he was quick enough, and by the time it's blade-like limbs slashed, he wasn't there anymore—_

_—_And opened them. Her Chosen was out there. She'd waited years to have a Chosen of her own, and he was just beyond that membrane that separated their dimension with that of the Nether-Realm. He was there; all she had to do was go after him.

The companion reared on her hind legs with a cry of success as she galloped toward the Archway of the Grove, and leapt into the mist to find her chosen.


	2. To Make and Unmake

I am not Misty. I don't own anything that has to do with Valdemar. Mercedes Lackey does.

This has some elements that are sort of borrowed from Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom trilogy, but I didn't think it was enough that I needed to put as a crossover, although I wanted to give him a little credit. If you like fantasy, definitely check it out, it's awesome!

I'm roughly basing this story directly after Owl Knight. I'm also assuming that Elspeth and Darkwind are back from Hardarn by now (I mean it's been quite a few years since The Mage Storms'n stuff so…). Don't hate me, please.

Sorry for the delay and the mispelled and grammer stuff thats wrong. I got a new Compy and it doesn't have Microsoft Word so I can't even run a spell-check. PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Please review too, I always enjoy input from readers.

**Ruin ● Resurrection**

By LGR

**Chapter Two: To Make and Unmake**

-☼-

Ripping his mage-crafted sword acorss the flesh of the Eikei demon brought sparks the two opposite magics clashed. A smell of burnt meat filled the air as the spells seared through the membrane of protection the Eikei demon's inherent Nether properties gave it. The wound was a deap one, but the Eikei poured its strength into the gash that spewed, not blood, but a thick purple-black smoke that was almost an ash cloud. The cloud redrew itslef into the wound as quickly as it had left, and a shining of energy was released as the wound resealed itself only for the process to be repeated as he got another slash in with the sword.

It was his purpose to destroy such creatures as these, and had been since that day so many years ago,that he had to think for a few minutes to bring up a number. It was his purpose, and he was damned good at it.

The Eikei screeched a peircing scream that no bird, insect or animal could conjure and whipped itself away form the burning blade, to swivel it's staind razor-limbs in an attempt to smash him into the ground. But he knew this trick, he easily dodged the attack, coming up under said limbs to stab the creature in its stomach. Symbols flared on the etched metal as their magic contested one another. He could see the Eikei drawing all the power its wound as more smoke blasted itself out of the torn, black scaled skin of the creature. Its razor teeth lashed out only managing to impale itself even more onto the sword. Its silver pitted eyes began to fade and it became limp and turned to black ash.

Nekimiyah, heaved a sigh as he sheathed his sword. Yes, this was nothing new. Now that the immediate danger was over, it was business as usual, which would have been more of the same, except that his services were barely needed anymore.

For over three centuries, he'd battled the necromancers, the dead and the demons, the blood-path mages, and even the regular-old war for power-hungry tyrants or despots. But now they were gone, and had been for some time. They had been sent to Judgment at last, but that left those like him with no purpose, and those around him in a state nervousness.

But truth to tell, there weren't any like him left. Those whos very life and soul was for the protection of the living against the dead and, if nead-be the plots of the living as well. And those that still new the ancient ways of keeping such harmony had found new occupations. But he couldn't do that, he was too well known, had had to high a position. The kings of the nations he patrolled had actually sent _assassins _after him. They'd failed miserably of course, how could he battle the dead and living evils for so long without having had assassins sent after him at least _once_? He couldn't obviously, and he knew what to look for and how to dispose of them, but it was the principal of the act as well.

The people he had come to love and protect now rejected him. He wasn't needed anymore, and his existance only brought others the pain of the memory of why he had been there. It didn't help that his powers were the same as those that had threatened them, the necromancers themselves. They couldn't comprehend the difference between what he was doing and what they had done.

They also didn't trust him, no one did. And for any human being, a world without trust was a world without hope.

Nekimiyah was in the Nether-realm right now. It was an area of spirits and demons as well as dead souls. Not everything here was bad. But everything that wasn't had its own agenda as well, and it was not a good idea to trust anything one saw no matter how innocent seeming it was. Though there were things that were "good", they all had tasks to do of their own and he had seen them only rarely, and never spoken with them; if they could speak at all.

"Well, it's time to head back." he said to himself, and focussed on the veil that seperated the Nether-realm from the world of mortal life. As he was about to step across the barrier (an action that was less a movement than an unfocussing of the mind,) a pressence made itself known behind him. He snapped his attencion back and whirled around to block the attack of a second Eikei demon. It's half-foot long needle-like teeth just inches from his face, he jerked his sword in a way that made the eikei stumble back-ward, he smashed the sword against the boney area that served as the demon's neck. He cursed; the creatures neck spouted black-purple smoke, blinding him. In his confused state, the eikei got a hit in, knocking him to the ground. The creature hadn't been able to get the razor edge into a possision to slice him, but using the blunted side had clubbed the wits out of his head.

He knew the blow was coming, he could sense energy of all kinds, and he could sense that the arm of the eikei was coming straight for him; an even darker blob of infinite emptiness within the already dark sight his eyes had begun presenting him as soon as the Eikei had knocked him across the head.

_:Not MY Chosen:_

Even with his muddied mind, he saw when a white figure barrelled into the Eikei, giving him enough time to shaking himself out of near-unconciousness. Only extreme instinct had kept him from dropping his sword, and he took it now and shoved it into the Eikei's Chest and activating the spells in the blade. The smoke obscured the creature once again but he slammed his boot on the demon so that it could not escape. The spells ate away at its flesh and he felt the creature leave his senses as its life faded.

Nekimiyah turned to inspect the white being that had saved him and found it to be white horse. A white horse with blue-eyes. He blinked, no creature that meant harm to him would have such a holy aura that radiated goodness. He was about to say something, he wasn't really sure what, nothing like this had ever happened here before, at least not in his memory, but the horse-being cut him off.

_:At last! I have found my chosen:_

"Your...chosen?" he asked stupidly. Those blue eyes engulfed him and he could scarcely think of anything else. They promised love and hope, an end to lonelyness. Forever, would this bond they had just made last.

_:Yes, my beloved and I shall never leave you, for as long as you live. I am Aerore. But I am sorry that the circumstances were not better for our meeting:_ the being told him in a mind-voice that was unmistakably feminine. _:Chosen, you feel as if you have no purpose any longer here? I am correct? Then come with me! For where we go, you are most desperately needed:_

Aerore stood still as he mounted her back and, as quickly as the swiftest wind, she took him away.

-☼-

_:We may have some good news.: _Gwena mind-spoke Elspeth and Darkwind._ :But then a again, it might mean nothing to our current situation at all.:_

_:What is it:_ Elpeth asked her, _:The gods know, we could use some right now.: _

With no other options open to them, Darkwind had used the last reserves of their energy to create a great flash of light to blind the woman as they galloped to the town and hid inside one of the houses. So far, the woman's dead puppets hadn't found them yet, but they new they were looking for them; what was more, the town wasn't that big, it was just a matter of time before they were found. Gwena had continued galloping of into the forest once she'd deposited them next to the clump of houses on the outskirts of the village. Vkandis, Kal'enal and every other god knew that it would be difficult to hide her in a house. Elspeth hadn't wanted them to split up, but it had been the only way they could see at such short notice. having them split up might also confuse them into thinking they had left with Gwena.

_:Aerore left a few minutes ago and used the arch to power some-sort of jump, they can't figure what or how, but shes definitely on a chosen search; she could maybe come back with help...maybe.:_

_:Aerore? I tought she'd remain chosenless, some companions do, and she's gone without for such a long time...Either way, we can't count on her. besides, I don't see how having on extra Herald _in-training _is going to do us much good, we'd need an army, or a couple extra nodes; that would work too.:_

_:Well, if wishes were fishes, there'd be no room in the ocean for fish.:_ Darkwind added.

_:I could do without the Shin'a'in proverbs right now.:_ Elspeths mind-voice was as dry as a desert.

_:That wasn't shin'a'in.:_

_:Whatever.:_

They sat quietly in the cellar of one of the larger houses. It had two doors, one which led into the house, and one that led outside. It was good in case they were found, they could make a brake through one of the doors if the other held dead. Through a miniscule window, they could look into the village for danger, but it was mostly filled with fog.

_:Dear-one! They've caught up to me! I'm going to run back towards the village:_

_:Be careful Gwena:_ Elspeth mind-sent only to jump as there was a banging on the door to the outside. No, both doors. The enemy was surrounding them.

Before anyone could act, the door that led to the ourtside swung open and rain and wind filled the cellar. In the doorway stood the woman in black with the ghostly white mask with a legion of dead behind her.

_"And now you shall perish."_

The woman held up her palm to give a final strike but instead of doing so she turned her head to the right-

-just as Gwena slammed her massive white body into her with an equine scream and began frantically stomping her. The dead stumbled awkwardly but they managed enough sense to see that the pale horse was a danger, and they leapt without emotion onto Gwena and ripped at her.

"No!" Elspeth slammed the last of her magic into a blast that incinerated the dead that had been clawing bloody gashes that stained Gwena's snow white coat. Gwena was breathing heavily and blood dripped from her nose as she limped off the still body and came to stand by Elspeth who was crying frantically. She'd felt Gwena's fear and pain and ran to hug her around the neck.

"Don't ever. EVER! Scare me like that again!" Elspeth shouted through tears.

_:WE HAVE TO RUN! NOW! Remember the rock? She's already heal:_ Gwena was cut off as a blast of black energy came from the body of the woman and flung them all backwards. Gwena snorted blood as the breath was nocked out of her. And Elspeth and Darkwind were on the edge of conciousness since they'd been thrown into the cellar and hit there heads on the hard-packed ground.

-☼-

Aerore had told him what to expect as they dashed through the neather realm to a place that corresponded to the area where they wished to be when they came out. Place, time, even reality was distorted in this place. It could be an hour in the world of the living and be days within here, or the opposite. Someplace that was miles away could be reached within a step or vice-virsa. But one learned to be able to judge.

And so when they reached an area and were about to leap across the barrier, he could tell that this was very far from his home indeed.

_:Be ready to act, I don't know what we'll find.:_ she told him, and he sent an afirmative back. He braced himself for whatever they would find on the other side, and as the clouds stretched away and Aerore touched her silver hooves into grass instead of slate grey earth, he could immediatly feel the distortions.

As one, as if he had worked with her at his side all his life, they galloped toward the greatest darkness, but before they took more that a step, a blast of Neather-energy was released.

_:Chosen:_ Aerore warned but he had already erected a sheild for them. it wasn't substantial enough to stop the energy, but it would stop the force of the blasts the release. He saw it through the fog and in his senses as well. A black emptiness, much stronger then the mear Eikei he had battled earlier, he recognized it as an Arkhaios. This was a greater demon or archdaemon, serving a dark-sorcerer or necromancer.

It had noticed him. Well, that was fine. If it hadn't sensed the sheild, what Nekimiyah was about to do next would have ripped his attencion towrards them anyways.

His sword could not destroy it in this case and besides, fighting hand to hand would get him killed. Magic was out of the question, no matter how much magic a mage had, he could never over-power an archdaemon; they always had more. And wearing him down would be out of the question, any human would tire long before it ever did. That left tearing the spell that held it togather to shreds, and unfortunatly for the Arkhaios, he was very good at this. He sent his plan to Aerore, and they were off.

The arcdaemon shot the black nothing-energy at him but aerore dodged to the side. Holding his sword like a spear he hurled it at the mask of the demon. It went in but it barely phased the demon: he hadn't expected it to. But it would distract it long enough for him to mount an offense. The wards and spells on the sword flashed neon blue in the dark and sparks scattered from where it wasstuck in the mask. The demon was trying to pull the sword out but was having trouble due to the wards on the handle that keep burning its hands. Its power was too great to be stopped that easily, however, it would soon tear out the sword, or decide to ignore it.

As black flames spouted from the demon's hands being bruned by the sword, Nekimiyah boosted his mind powers and began to rip at the exposed spell that served as the demons anchor to this world. It hadn't been expecting this at all. It tried to get the upper hand on him by baratting his mind, but he was much to strong willed for that.

On the visible plain, it seemed as if the demon suddenly turned into many peices of black cloth and goop, that then turned into smoke and ash, but the demon was unmade, and would not return. His sword chinked to the ground, the white mask still on the blade.

_:Well done, chosen:_ Aerore told him as the fog, rain and wind he hadn't noticed until now disapaited leaving a clear night sky. He recognized some of the stars, but they weren't where they were supposed to be, and shouldn't have been out at this time of year. He truely was in a very different place now.


	3. Haven

I am not Misty. I don't own anything that has to do with Valdemar. Mercedes Lackey does.

This has some elements that are sort of borrowed from Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom trilogy, but I didn't think it was enough that I needed to put it as a crossover, although I wanted to give him a little credit. If you like fantasy, definitely check it out, it's awesome! I'm roughly basing this story directly after Owl Knight. I'm also assuming that Elspeth and Darkwind are back from Hardarn by now. Also, im getting the names for the head heralds out of the Mage storm Series, so if I get it wrong. I cant remember if they'd started the mages collegium yet so i threw it in there ... Don't hate me, please.

Sorry for the delay and the mispelled and grammer stuff thats wrong. I got a new Compy and it doesn't have Microsoft Word so I can't even run a spell-check. PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Please review too, I always enjoy input from readers.

**Ruin ● Resurrection**

By LGR

**Chapter Three: Haven**

-☼-

"They are alright! Rolan says the danger has passed!" There was a triumphant yell all round as Talia told the great news to the rest of the Heralds and all four collegia breathed a sigh of releif. The iminant threat for their princess and her mate, two of the most loved people in Haven, had reseaded, and now everyone was ready to let their overly stressed minds rest until the morrow when they would take up the next question: what would they do now? As much as everyone wanted the problem to go away, most had sense enough to know it wouldn't do so by itself, and certainly not before they wakened in the morning. But this problem would be dealt with as all problems had been dealt with in the past. And for now it was safe enough for all to get a good night's sleep and think about it in the morning.

But Queen's Herald Talia was already thinking about it. And she went directly to the Queen and gave her a look that told her something important needed to be discussed, so after the small party that had erupted in the great hall of the palace after the good news had been announced, Selenay, Daren and the other Heralds on the council as well as former weapon's master Alberitch, Herald-Chronicler Myste, and Talia's husband Herald Dirk, held a private meeting in the queens chambers.

"What is it Talia? What is it that you couldn't tell everyone else?" Selenay asked as soon as the door to her chamber was closed.

"Darkwind and Elspeth didn't defeat the creature on there own, in fact, they said they didn't do much of anything. It was Aerore's Chosen that saved them. We're going to have to figure out what to do about him..." she said slightly worriedly.

"Out with it Talia, what is it that makes him different than other Chosen?" The Dean, Herald Teren asked.

"How did a boy save them?" asked Herald Kyril, the Seneschal's Herald, puzzled.

"That's part of the problem...he's not a boy at all. According to Rolan, who got his information from Gwena who got her information from Aerore, he's over three hundred years old."

Everyone was silent.

"Wonder how he managed that one." Herald Myste said dryly.

"We think it has something to do with his gift, which I don't think is something we've encountered before." Talia told them.

"How are we going to teach him?" Dirk wondered aloud.

"I didn't tell you all? The stress must be getting to me more than I thought." Talia remarked, everyone looked a little worried for her but continued to listen, "He knows all he needs to know. Aerore brought us a Master of his craft. This Man, his name is Nekimiyah, is from a place far away. Dealing with these monsters is his business! We don't need to train him or anything!"

"Then why all this non-sense? We could be sleeping!" Prince Daren declared, everyone nodded.

"Many problems, there may yet be." Alberitch said calmly. "The language does he know? Likely not. He will know not our ways, nor about us, anything. And train others in his craft can he? If so, who? And how fast, can he be the monsters dealing with? Many things still yet we do not know."

"And we don't know how the collegia will take him. We don't know anything about him at all." Selaney professed.

"I don't think we can work anything out until tomarrow when they get here, I just wanted everyone to know what was going on." They all nodded and left the chamber to their beds to (hopefully) find rest.

-☼-

No one had said much the night before, especially not the new chosen, who'd only managed to string a couple words together that none of them could understand. He couldn't understand them either and so they couldn't even say thank you, except through the companions. They'd road on to the next town after Darkwind calmed the horse that he had ridden their and tide up near a stream, purchased rooms for the night, had their wounds looked at (the new man and Aerore weren't touched of course), then fallen into bed without so much as a "goodnight". Elspeth was even too tired to eat anything. She hadn't even caught the new Herald's name. She felt kind of guilty; he'd saved all their lives and she didn't even know who he was.

She slept until almost noon, even though they'd actual gone to sleep much earlier than she usually managed to at the palace, in Haven. She opened her eyes to the room then closed them. How did she always manage to get a room with a window facing east? She hated the sun in her eyes in the morning. Blinking grogily, she turned her head to the other side of the bed. _Darkwind must be up already_, she thought when she noticed his absence.

She toyed with the idea of mind-speaking him or Gwena, but decided to wait until she was fully awake. Besides, Gwena was asleep still, she'd had to mind-speak Rolan and give the news to the heralds; and that had taken a lot out of her after all the running around they'd done last night.

Elspeth finally decided she had to wake up, and she flopped out of bed feeling really sore and head-achy the moment her head was off the pillow. Ignoring it, she got servants to draw her a bath before she changed and went down to the common room. It really was a nice inn, she hadn't had time to admire the service last night.

When she entered the mostly empty common room, she wasn't too surprised to see Darkwind already dressed and eating a meal at a table. She was however very surprised to see the chosen there also sitting at the table eating.

And they were _talking_. In _Rethwellian_. She hadn't even known Darkwind _knew _Rethwellian. Was the man from Rethwellan? She just couldn't see that, e didn't have at all a Rethwellian manner, and his speech had an odd accent.

As she thought of this, she realized that this was the first time she'd seen him clearly and it was obvious he wasn't from around here. The Man was tall, but not so tall that he stuck out, however the starch contrast of short Raven black hair and pale skin was enough to make one do a double-take. Oddly enough, she couldn't remember how old she'd thought he was last night. At first glance, she'd have guessed middle twenties, but her second made her think middle thirties, then late twenties, then fourties, then she'd thought he looked in his early twenties...she just couldn't put an age to him.

He was sitting facing away from her with Darkwind directly opposite him at a table, and when Darkwind noticed her, he turned to look as well, revealing a almond shaped sea-green eyes and a nose that put her in mind of a hawk or falcon. His clothes didn't put her in mind of a herald at all, they were all black and silver that made her think more of a carsite sun preist, but no preists-wear was anything but robes, for the most part, and his were wool shirt and breaches with an odd cut that suggested that armor was supposed to fit over them. Either way, they didn't look at all bad; she'd thought even a _hertasi_ might not mind them...at least not until they got bored of black and decided to through in something like, say, fushia, that is. In fact, she vaguely thought she remembered him having armor.

"Elspeth, he knows Rethwellian!" Darwind told her in said language and they both stood up from their seats as Darkwind introduced them. "Elspeth, this is Nekimiyah Jigan-Rhion, now a herald-trainee, and basically the person who saved our lives last night." turning to Nekimiyah, he said,"This is my mate, Herald-Mage and a Princess of Valdemar, Elspeth, chosen of Gwena who is the other companion." She reached to shake her hand with no hesitation.

They all sat back down at the table and Darwind and Nekimiyah continued to eat while she ordered a meal for herself, which was brought to her shortly. She was dieing to ask him how old he was, but that would be horribly rude, instead she just asked him what Darkwind had told him of Valdemar so far.

"It seems to be a very well run country, from what I have heard from your mate Darkwind and from Aerore...I am still trying to understand this thing with the...companions." he stumbled over the word companions, which he spoke in Valdemaran. "It puzzles me, as to why such a creature chooses to ally itself with mortals, and how it does so with no greater power to aide it."

Elspeth blinked. She didn't really understand. "How do you mean?" she asked, intrigued despite herself. "What do you mean 'with no greater power?'"

"It is not unusual for a spirit to walk with mortals under the power of a god or goddess, but they cannot do so without the god or goddess's energy, they are not powerful enough, and you... valdemarans... do not seem to have a ruling god or goddess that is your patron."

"I still don't understand. What do you mean by-" Elspeth began, but Darkwind interrupted.

"_Ashke_, there will be plenty of time for a religious debate later, but we've got to get going, it's after noon already, I don't want to have to ride like a mad-man to reach Haven before dark."

Elspeth sighed, he was right. And it wasn't as if Nekimiyah was going anywhere, not without them anyways.

"Okay, let's get our stuff and go."

-☼-

_:And the Monarch must be a Herald:_

_:That's right.:_

_:I suppose that would explain how Valdemar can be the place of goodness you claim it to be.: _Nekimiyah admitted to Aerore. During the long ride, (that would have been even longer than otherwise, had his Companion not been a Magical-spirit-being other than an ordinary horse, ) she'd been explaining to him about Valdemar, its culture, their relationship with the surrounding nations, and the situation they were in at the moment.

It was not _too _hard for him to believe that no group of people within their Alliance had ever encountered a being of the Nether-realm, but it came damn close. He had encountered groups of people, isolated for the most part, who hadn't had any contact with Necromancers or Nether-demons or dead...but this was the whole side of a continent. Having people who'd never been troubled by them seemed about as likely as...

...well as likely as there being very little trouble from them in the last fifty years back in the region he protected. Which there wasn't.

Perhaps they had migrated here, when they began to die out? Most necromancers were cowards by nature and that would not have been totally out of character, but such a mass agreement between said necromancers would have been found out. They were not a very organized people. Oh, they ran their own little plots quite well, but when it came to working together, everything fell apart.

The Necromancers were untrust-worthy, self-centured, and power-hungry. For the most part they could not comprehend how others could be kind, truthful, and self-sacrificing, because they themselves were not. If they had been, they wouldn't have gotten into the business of binding dead soles against their will, robbing graves for dead bodies, or alliing themselves with demons. In this way, they couldn't trust each other, because they beleived everyone to be like themselves. Oh, they always 'knew' that they were better, smarter, more worthy, or other such nonsense, but when it came down to it, they knew that they were liers and cheaters, and so was every other person in their professsion.

This, as one can imagine, did not help them to work together in any-sort of perminant alliance.

_:So these Heralds need my help? These alliance lands you describe are not a small bit of land, I will need to take apprentices, if any can be found who have the characteristics that may allow them to learn.:_ Apprentices...he hadn't had an apprentice in...about seventy-eight years!

_:We will do what we can to provide you with what you need.:_

_:Thank you very much, Aerore...I have known you less than a day, and I would trust you with anything. With everything. I do not know if you will ever understand how you have helped me.:_ he told her.

_:No chosen, thank you.:_

_:What have I done for you? Why do your kind help us mortals? I can scarcely imagine...I do not understand despite all I know, but I am very greatful.:_ All of a sudden she let out a chortling whicker that he swore was a laugh. Darkwind and Elspeth turned their heads at the sound but otherwise ignored it...They must be used to it, he thought. He'd already noticed that Elspeth had been in a tight mindspoken conversation with both her mate and her companion, he could "See", in a sight that wasn't really seeing with the eyes at all, the bright neon-blue as the energy passed between them all.

_:Chosen...I know none as serious as you. Your going to need to lighten-up. Especially if we find any elligable apprentices among the Herald-trainees. They haven't been taking well too seriousness lately, or so I hear, we've got quite a few tricksters at the collegium these days.:_

He couldn't help but grin. Aerore didn't know him that well yet if he thought he'd let a couple of children break him. He'd had many apprentices, seventeen in fact. Some had been meek, and serious, but he'd hade plenty that were not...His green grew wider.

One apprentice he'd had, his name had been Jervahn, was horribly stubborn and arrogant...well, lets say Nekimiyah had cured him of that. Some Masters beleived in Coddling their apprentices to get them on their side (which would inevitably _hurt _the apprentice), others were harsh and prefered beatings (which was not a good way to _keep _an apprentice,) and some few managed to beat them down out of the shear force of their personality. Nekimiyah prefered a different approch...

He heard Aerore chortle again as she zero-ed in on a couple of his memeries.

_:Ooh, your a sly one chosen:_ He didn't take offence at all that she was listening to his thoughts, it seemed only natural.

"Nekimiyah! We're coming up on Haven!" Elspeth told him, not in the language most commonly used where he lived, but one he'd learned when he'd accompanied an ambassador, on an embassy to another country, that was quite far from the circle of nations he'd served in. Rethwellan, it was called, and apparantly it still was. It was actually quite by chance that he'd picked it up, and he could blame his near photographic memory that it had stayed in his head. At least it was coming in useful now.

Haven was a large city. He'd seen bigger, and prettier, but Haven seemed to have it's own style, and they way it was laid out would protect the palace from a seige. As the companions silver hooves hit cobblestone they chinked like crystal strinking crystal, making Darkwind's horse sound like the most unsophisticated farm horse. Not that you could here much anyways about the rushing of people.

When they passed through the maze-like streats, nearly every citizen that could spare a moment hailed them with shouts. He couldn't make out anything, but among the words, he did recognize "herald" and "Valdemar". He also thought he heard "hawkbrother", which was what Darkwind had told him was his nationality.

"We're coming up to the palace!" Darkwind told him. He nodded. They passed yet another great wall, (their had been many), and they entered what must have been the area directly around the palace grounds because of the large and costly homes. As they came closer to another wall that apparently surrounded the palace itself, the houses grew older and larger with more land attached.

"Heyla!" Elspeth said to the guard at the gate then continued in Valdemaran, after a moment, they were let in.

Elspeth and Darkwind were mind-speaking again. Probably deciding what to do with him.

Well, it didn't matter. Whatever they decided was not likely to be harmful to him, the companion spirits would make sure of that. Aerore confirmed his thought with a mental nod. Besides, if he didn't like it, he could always leave, not that he wanted to of course, but he could. He could see many wards around the palace, most fairely new by comparison with most of the wards he'd seen that had been put around buildings, and a small object with great power was inside that was nearly blinding him. He might have shut his eyes but that would't have done anygood, instead he sheilded himself slightly so that the constant buzzing and blaring of power, energy and light wouldn't distract him so much.

Besides that there wasn't anything baring him from the nether-planes...

There wasn't anything baring him from the nether-planes. They could be attacked at any moment, why didn't they have sheilds against this?

_:Chosen, this is what you are here for. We know nothing of the ways of combating these people. We need your help, desperatly.: _

They needed his help more than he thought, if they didn't even have wards that keep people from hopping dimensions. A necromancer could be in the palace right now!

Abruptly they stopped, and servants came to take the horse and the companions away.

_:Aerore...:_

_:Don't worry chosen, I'm going to get a nice rub-down and some food. We are not being seperated.: _

He nearly sighed in releif. When he brought his attencion back to the room, he noticed a short woman with a heart shaped face and brunette hair, smiling at them all kindly. Slight waves were coming from her person, but it was nothing anyone could see on the normal plane; the woman was a powerful empath. At least she hadn't tried working anything on him before he'd noticed the white uniform that Elspeth had said all heralds wore, or the strings of energy that ment she was bonded to a companion. She had other strings, but he wasn't quite sure what they were for. But anyways, she would have had a big surprise; mostly in the form of a broken arm or a jolt to the mind that would have knocked her unconsious for a month, depending on how close she was to him.

"Hello", she said in Rethwellian, "I'm Queen's own Herald Talia."

-☼-

Okay, time for responce to reviews.

If you don't want to read this, it's not really anything to do with the story, to but I like to give credit to my reviewers (whom I love!).

**Tessabe, Jessie, **and** Hiro no Tsuki: **Thank you guys for reviewing! Yeah, I'm sorry about the month between posts, (was it really a month?), but If you look on my bio page, it gives the reason why. And about the grammer and spelling, I try to fix it whenever I see it, and I go over it all the time, but I still magage to miss stuff! It's not fair. I also put another reason why there are more mistakes than usual at the top of this page.

**Cat McDougall: **I think this is probably the kindest I've ever gotten! Seriously! Thank you for the good review! I had always wanted to do a story for Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series but I Never had a story that I thought could do the origional plot credit, so I never bothered to write anything...until now. I try to make the stories my own while still holding true to the characters.

Thanks everyone for reviewing!


	4. A Plan at Last

I am not Misty. I don't own anything that has to do with Valdemar. Mercedes Lackey does.

This has some elements that are sort of borrowed from Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom trilogy, but I didn't think it was enough that I needed to put as a crossover, although I wanted to give him a little credit. If you like fantasy, definitely check it out, it's awesome! I'm roughly basing this story directly after Owl Knight. I'm also assuming that Elspeth and Darkwind are back from Hardarn by now (I mean it's been quite a few years since The Mage Storms'n stuff so…). Don't hate me, please.

Sorry for the misspelled words and grammar stuff that are wrong. I got a new Compy and it doesn't have Microsoft Word so I can't even run a spell-check. PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Please review too, I always enjoy input from readers!

**Ruin ● Resurrection**

**By LGR**

**Chapter Four: A Plan at Last  
**

--☼--

"Son of the Sun! The Sunsguard are managing, but many of our Sun-priest mages have been killed. We...we're going to need help." Sun-priest Bernardi reported to her, still sweating buckets even this early in the morning when it was quite cool, almost chilly.

Sun-priest Bernardi was one of the most pompous priests in existence, the only reason Solaris kept him around was that he was one of the few Sunpreists that had supported her from the first, while still keeping contacts with the less enthusiastic clergyman. If she'd have dismissed him with anything less than a miracle from the Sun Lord to justify it, than there would have been a chance of riots. At least he wasn't _too _stupid a fellow. And if _he _thought they needed help, then things _must_ be bad.

She tapped her fingers on her alter-like desk.

Whatever was down there at Dawnshill was powerful enough to take out six Mages: one adept, three masters, and a two journeyman. This was quite a predicament. She only prayed that the Sun Lord would help them.

She read the report again. No one could tell really how the mages had been killed, or why their magic wasn't working. She nearly sighed in frustration except that she couldn't let her worry show or else Sun-priest Bernadri would probably break-down right there on the freshly mopped tiled-floor. Chances were he'd turn into a bucket of water, and they'd have to call servants to clean it up.

That thought got her spirits up just enough to keep her mask in place.

"Order all the Sun-priest mages left to stand-by until we know how to counter act this...black magic." she told him. "Let them only work magic indirectly. No attacks. Just support for the Sunsguard when needed, and common spells and wards."

"Yes, holiness!" he said and ran out to give the order. Hansa, the large cream fire-cat that took up a quarter of her large desk, turned to her.

_:Solaris:_ Hansa Mind-spoke her,_ :Altra and Karal send that they may have an answer to our problem in the form of a newly chosen, but he cannot be sure. They also send that you should not work to hard.:_

She smiled. Karal was always thinking of others, especially her.

_:Tell them that I will try, and thank them for the good news.:_ She told Hansa, and after a stretch and receiving a couple of pats in the head, he walked to a patch of sun light on the desk and was gone in her next blink.

This was good news. But not as good as it could be, Heralds were not dedicated to the alliance, though they liked to help when they could, they were dedicated to Valdemar and it's monarch. A chosen would think first of Valdemar and second for the alliance. That meant that Karse would likely be placed second.

Oh well, it would have to do for now. Do not complain when the sun lord provides you with a gift. Even if that gift is not the gift you hoped it would be.

--☼--

Talia had brought Herald-"trainee" Nekimiyah to a private meeting of the Herald's circle that had met the night before, where they questioned him, so as to figure out how to set-up his education and find his place among the trainees.

He obviously couldn't do a regular trainee course. Not only would it be embarrassing to him, it would be near impossible. They needed him out in the field. Now. They couldn't wait very long.

She'd secretly expected an old man that could teach others what to do but wouldn't be able to help very much, despite how he'd saved Elspeth and Darkwind, but she was pleasantly surprised. He wasn't an old man, but he didn't necessarily look like a young man either. Instead, his age seemed to change from one glance to the next.

Despite the way he looked, she could tell that he must have lived at least as long as a regular old man. His mind and emotion patterns weren't like anything she'd seen before except among the very old. And the way he carried himself, spoke, moved, looked at people. He had the quiet confidence possessed by those who knew exactly who they were. Not the attitude the younger person had, who was mostly trying to find their own identity and place in the world. Even here in this foreign place, she couldn't imagine anyone managing to run-rough-shod over him, or telling him what to do without him letting them.

"Do you mind if we test you for gifts?" she asked him in Rethwellian. That was the only language that he happened to know that anyone else on the palace grounds did. Fortunately, most Heralds also learn it.

"Herald Markin has already done so." he said plainly. She blinked. She hadn't known that. They'd brought in Herald Markin specifically to do just that; test his gift. But she hadn't meant for him to do so without permission! She turned to him for an explanation.

"Don't worry Herald Talia, I had Gammon to ask Aerore to ask him and he said it was alright."

Gammon was Markin's Companion, and unfortunately they tended to do things without authorization. That's why she'd specifically told him to wait for her to ask. At least he'd asked permission from Nekimiyah first.

She could tell from the disapproving feeling she was getting from Rolan that his companion was going to get a talking-to. From the way Alberitch's emotions mirrored Rolan's she figured Kantor might get in on the chastising as well.

"Well, what did you find out?" she asked him.

"He's got two gifts that I can see. One we know of, and another that I've never seen before, or at least I don't think I've seen it before." he told them all in Valdemaran while talia translated for Nekimiyah. "He's got all forms of Mind-speech in spades Talia, including the one that allows you to move things with your mind. He could probably be a mind-healer, with the power he's got there."

A mind-healer? Talia was a Mind-healer. The healing of the mind didn't really require so much a healing gift, as a gift that allowed one to access another's mind. She used her Empathy to do so, but she'd never heard of anyone using powerful mind-speech.

"A mind-healer? Can someone use mind-speech to heal the mind?" The Dean asked, also skeptical.

"It's just what I say. I don't think that's the way he uses it, but he might be able to if he practiced."

"So, how powerful is powerful? Give us a comparison here." Herald Kyril wondered.

Herald Markin thought for a moment before he spoke. "Well, we don't have a Herald that's particularly gifted with this sort if Mind-speech, but, and this is only a rough-estimate-sort-of-comparison, but I'd say that he'd about five times as powerful as the strongest mind-speakers we have, that includes Herald Elspeth. He could probably talk to anyone in their head whether they had the gift or not."

That was...almost disturbing. No one said a thing, Talia had long since stopped translating for Nekimiyah. She blinked and gathered her thoughts, then repeated what Herald Markin had said in Rethwellian.

He just shrugged, not looking particularly surprised. That was an odd response, but whatever.

"What is his other gift, Markin?" Herald Myste asked.

"Well...I'm not even sure if it counts as a gift. But..."

"Just spit it out!"

"Well, he's got probably every-sort of Mage-sight in existence; including ones I've never seen before. He'd probably see every kind of gift anyone us has ever seen as some-sort of energy." He said.

That...well, that was an odd gift. What would one do with it? Well, Talia did have one thing it was good for, if she could see when Markin had started to probe Nekimiyah for gifts, she could have stopped him; told him to wait. Then Talia had a thought.

"Then he's not a mage?" she asked.

"Nope, he's not a mage at all."

"But he's got mage-sight? He can see magic but he can't use it?" she asked.

He shrugged, "If he can, he doesn't. Not even as much as someone who has journeyman talent and doesn't know it. You can always see some usage, even if they don't notice they're doing magic. He doesn't have any."

That went against a lot of what she'd been told by the other mages. They held to the theory that if you could see it, you could use it. This was a very odd case.

"Oh yeah, Talia. Just to warn you, apparently he can see when people are Mind-speaking, and who their mind-speaking to and all kinds of other stuff that I don't know what it is. He probably does, though. Unless you're mind-speaking a companion you might want to watch Mind-speaking about him. I don't know him, of course, but I know I'd be pretty annoyed if people were mind-speaking around me left and right. I don't know how he feels about it, it was just a thought." he said, scratching his forehead almost nervously.

"Thank you Markin, we'll keep that in mind." Talia said. Markin, his job being finished, he swiftly left the room after a few quick see-you-later's,

"Aerore, has told me some of this 'Trainee' business, are you going to place me as a trainee?" She hadn't been expecting Nekimiyah to say anything (he'd scarcely added more than a sentence to opinion or question) and she nearly jumped. He also had a surprisingly deep voice that she wasn't used to.

"Well, sort of. We aren't quite sure how we're going to do this." She told him. "When most people are chosen, they are chosen as children or teens. We've had plenty of people chosen when they were older though, sometimes much older. But that isn't so much the problem. The problem is that we have all these things happening everywhere. We need you out there, but we also need to teach you here. We're not sure how we are going to do both at once."

He thought for a moment "Let's look at this immediate problem of the dead and strange happenings, it is truly the most pressing, then you can decide what you will do with me." he told her.

She did just that.

When this problem had begun to spring up, they'd set up a council similar to the one they'd had during the mage storms, with Sejanes and Karal, and Master Levy heading it. The difference was it was much more organized and able to deal with the problems than the one there'd been some years ago. Talia and the other Heralds led Nekimiyah to the council chamber where the meetings were being held. If Talia's sense of time was right, they should have just let out a meeting, which meant Karal would likely still be there.

"Karal?" Herald Talia inquired, as she came in the chamber with the other Heralds trailing behind her. Karal was there, his eyes were blank because of his blind-ness but his mind was a sharp as ever, which was all to be expect from a man who was in his late twenties. Altra the fire-cat had become his eyes when Karal had lost his sight in suppressing the final-blow of the Mage-storms, some time ago. Since then, they were never apart.

"Yes, Sun's Ray? How may I help you and your companions?" Karal said from his seat, but she suspected he was studying the map laid across the large table, as that was what Altra had been looking at until he'd turned his head when they'd come in.

"We'd like you to explain to our new herald-to-be Nekimiyah what the situation is. You do know Rethwellian, right? Very good." she turned to Nekimiyah, "Nekimiyah? This is ambassador Karal of the Karsite embassy and a Sun-priest of Vkandis along with The Fire-cat, Altra. Karal, this is newly Chosen of Aerore, Nekimiyah Jigan-Rhion."

"We're pleased to meet you." Karal told him when he reached them after getting up.

"And I you, and Master Altra." and they clasped hands and Altra gave a nod of his feline head.

"Now, you wanted to know the situation? Well, there are many reports of odd things, mostly concerning the dead or strange demons and mages. We have reports from Karse, Rethwellian, Hardarn, Iftel, and also here in Valdemar. The ones from Karse are mostly centered near a town called Dawnshill, where there have been a number of casualties." he said sadly.

"In Hardarn, in Greenvale, there have been reports also other villages as well, but King Tremane doesn't have very many men to spare for those. They're going to check them out before dispatching the army. Rethwellan's reports are from small villages all over the mountains, they haven't penetrated to the main part of the country yet.

"Iftel says there are attacks from strange beings and supposed dead in an area called Chafendarkin, very near the border to Valdemar. These are the main attacks, and they are marked here on the Map in red. Other unconfirmed or lesser attacks are in green." Karal said, pointing at the map in places as he explained.

Though Nekimiyah couldn't read the language, he studied the map expertly asking questions about the nature of the attacks for each one in red, and some in green. The other Heralds, who hadn't seen this map yet, were also gazing at large spread of paper.

She noticed a red mark in the north-west corner of Valdemar. Unfortunately, the name of the town was covered.

"Karal, what's that town up there with the red mark? No, the other red mark. Yeah that one." Herald Myste asked before Talia could.

"That's Errold's Grove, Firesong sent us a message from K'Valdemar Vale a few hours ago." Karal said. "Apparently it's not too serious yet, but we thought it should be counted as red because of it's designation as a diplomatic meeting place as well as the large number of people."

"I see." she said.

"Tell all mages to stop all offensive activities. Only shields, support magic, mind-magic or healing magic. Use military men for the most part, or else your mages will be sucked dry of their energy, while strengthening the power of the enemy. There are ways of avoiding this, but I'm not a mage; I don't know all the details."

"Herald Talia, is there perhaps a way that I could inspect all trainees, and perhaps full-Heralds, to see if any may have the ability to be apprenticed, before I go? If we can have at least one other person, this might be somewhat easier. They may be able to take care of these lesser attacks after a time with me.

"This is the way I believe will be most efficient: As this 'Errold's Grove' seems to be managing, their problems must be put aside to deal with those in more danger. Rethwellian will be the most difficult as it is in the mountains, it I'm afraid must be last, I will need another helping me when I come here. Sun-priest Karal, this Sunhame is the Capital, yes?"

"Of Karse? Yes, it is."

"And you have been here, yes?"

"Yes, of course."

"Is this were most Sun-priests are? And the acolytes as well?"

"Yes. Many will be at Dawnshill because of the major attack, but otherwise, yes."

"Then this is my suggestion. I would go south to take care of the attack on Sweetsprings. Then, continue on to Karse, and stop at Sunshame to search for more apprentices. Then go on to the major attack on Dawnshill, here." He said to them, pointing to Sunshame on the Map.

Talia did nothing but nod understanding, he was the expert here, not her, and she wanted to hear his opinion before they decided what to do.

"After this, I would continue to Hardarn, and the attack on Greenvale, then to investigate these villages that gave minor reports. After which, I would go to the attack on the Iftel-Valdemar border, then those in near the Forest of Sorrows, then to Errold's Grove. Perhaps then will any apprentices with me be ready to go to Rethwellian, after a rest. It is very dangerous when working in mountains."

It made sense. It covered as many of the major attacked areas as it could, without zigzagging all over the place.

"This is a very good plan." Herald Teren said. "It can be seen as a year on circuit. That's perfect, especially if you can find a full Herald to be an apprentice. You'll need at least one person to accompany you, anyway."

Talia agreed, this was a good plan. It was definitely unorthodox for a Herald to be put directly into whites, (especially when they didn't even know the language!), but it couldn't be helped.

"We need to talk this over with Selenay first." She said.

* * *

I told you I'd do it and I did! Chapter four is revised. Not much has changed, it just has better spelling and grammar, for the most part, but I hope it gives you piece of mind! If you guys see anything I missed, you can say exactly what it is in a review. 

Enjoy!


	5. Nosey Companions

I am not Misty, but did any of you think I was? ...didn't think so.

This has some elements that are sort of borrowed from Garth Nix's The Old Kingdom trilogy, but I didn't think it was enough that I needed to put as a crossover, although I wanted to give him a little credit. If you like fantasy, definitely check it out, it's awesome!

Sorry for the misspelled words and grammar stuff that's wrong. I got a new Compy and it doesn't have Microsoft Word so I can't even run a spell-check. PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Please review too; I always enjoy input from readers.

**Ruin ● Resurrection**

**By LGR**

**Chapter Five: Nosey Companions**

Solaris readied herself. She had jumped with Hansa multiple times when it was needed, for whatever reason, and she was needed at the battle-grounds of Dawnshill right now. She could not continue to make decisions without fully comprehending what the Sunsguard was going through. It was necessary, but that did not mean she had to like it.

"Alright, let's get this over with, Hansa."

_: Of course, Holiness:_ was the feline's reply. His tone was a little too submitting in her opinion, and she sensed that Hansa was amused at her discomfort. Instead of making it an issue, she decided to let it drop, at least until she had time to have a talk with him about it. This was more important.

Her stomach lurched as she found herself in the sunlit room in the back of the Temple of Vkandis that the Sun-priests were being housed in while they were on the battle grounds. It was empty, as she had requested. She did not want anyone to see how well her green face contrasted with her red hair. After a moment her stomach stopped doing summersaults and, after taking a few deep breaths and a saying quick thank-you to Hansa, she rechecked her Son-of-the-Sun finery and, finding it in place, she opened the door and stepped through.

"Holiness, Milord Hansa," Sun-priest Laimen bowed slightly as she stepped out side the door. A few of the higher officers and Sun-priests were there to meet her, as she'd also requested. She was in a good mood. _I've requested three things upon coming, two are met so far, maybe all three?_ She could hope.

Despite what many of the common citizens thought, the sovereign of a country did not often have complete control of his or her subjects unless they were a dictator, and even then it was difficult and immoral. Things got in the way or someone forgot something or made some kind of an excuse and what the monarch or High-Priest said/asked/commanded didn't get done. One had to make all kinds of extra plans to make sure as many things as possible got done properly and what to do incase they didn't. Fortunately for her, she was not just a monarch but the High Priest of Vkandis, their god, and most of her subjects did as she needed them to, and most lapses weren't intended as a slight to her authority.

"You wished to be properly briefed upon your arrival, Holiness?"

She gave a slight smile, "Yes, Sun-priest Laimen, I did."

He nodded. "This way, please."

_All three._ She smiled as Sun-priest Laimen led them to the briefing room.

--☼--

Herald Aileen had just gotten back from riding circuit yesterday...at least five candle marks after sundown, almost definitely after midnight. She had ridden with her Companion Greier since dawn the day before, to get to Haven last night, so as to not have to camp another night outside, or sleep in an unfamiliar room in an inn, no matter how high-end such a residence was. Haven was home, and there was just no place like home; not even if it boasted over twenty rooms, special companion stables, and the best fried-trout within fifty miles.

And now that she was back, all she wanted to do was sleep...for candle marks...was that too much to ask? But when she was awakened at a candle mark or so after dawn by the bells, she had fallen out of her bed, and couldn't go back to sleep. This was probably because this was about the same amount of time she'd been used to sleeping, but she still didn't feel energized, and since she was still tired she just wanted to laze about all day until she decided to get some human contact later at supper.

Aileen got up and dressed in a pair of whites that she'd left in her room that last year, they were clean and unwrinkled, and they were in better condition than her circuit whites, even if they were a bit musty smelling. At this point she did not really care, she would change later when she went down to eat.

Right after she finished changing her clothes, and was about to go raid the kitchens for something to eat, she noticed the letters she had put down yesterday. They had arrived at Haven and she had gotten them on her way up to her room the night before, but had not bothered to look at them. She shrugged, _might as well bring them_.

So, she went down to the kitchens, carrying the letters. There were always people missing meals for one reason or another, so instead of having people go hungry or begging the cooks to make them things, they kept ready made food, that didn't spoil quickly or need heated-up, in special cabinets that anyone could take from, as long as they didn't abuse the privilege.

Grabbing something, she ate it in the kitchen while she opened the letters. The first one was from her friend Shandi, who was doing her circuit as an internship with Herald Anda in Errold's Grove, her home town. She opened it.

_Dear Aileen (and Grier),_

_I've had quite a great time here at home. I've gotten into a few scrapes but it was nothing major, just the usual sort of adventures and mischief. I'm sure by now you know I've got a love-interest but please don't shout it through the roof-tops or anything. His name is Stealmind and he's a Tayledras herb-mage and has an adorable buzzard as a bond-bird. I've probably mentioned him before. My sister Keisha and Darian got married a couple months ago but I'm wondering how long its going to be until I have another niece or nephew! My parents are leaving me alone about when I'm going to marry Stealmind, (I know it seems early to be thinking about that sort of thing but you don't know my parents), only because their busy pestering Darian and Shandi about when they can expect a grandchild out of them. Anda's keeping me hopping but it could always be worse. I'm busy but not too busy, the Vale is great and so is the village. I hope you enjoy your break from circuit and if you ever find yourself around Errold's Grove come look me and Karles up! _

_Herald Shandi and Karles_

It seemed a short letter between people who had been best friends, (well, as the best of friends one can be when one of you is constantly busy with school-work.), for the short time that they had both been in the collegium, but Aileen was actually impressed. Shandi was notorious for her ridiculously short letters, as her parents and family had informed her in every one of their novel-length letters. Luckily, Aileen was not one for reading anyways. It was enough for her. She figured that all those problems about demons and such had not happened around Errold's Grove, or else had not until after Shandi had sent the letter.

She was not as lucky when she got to her second letter. It was a huge sheaf of papers.

"What the-? Oh." she exclaimed then stopped when she saw what it was and who it was from. Her brother, three years older than her, was a bard and always sent her all his latest news, musical and theatrical projects, poetical masterpieces, or "wisdom". His letters could be turned into a trilogy of books that would be top of the merchant guild's sell-list; they were that flamboyant and descriptive, something for her to laugh at on a day when she had nothing better to do.

However, she was not really in the mood right now. She took out the top letter, which was the most normal one usually, and read it. It was an overview of what was contained within the rest of the manuscripts. Apparently he was doing well. He wouldn't be back to the palace to see her in at least a few weeks, but that was alright, he sent his love using ridiculous phrases like "my sister, dearest to my own heart!" and "My closest kin, would that I could but know that you are well!".

To someone else her brother might seem a little...well, incest was the least disgusting word she could use, but he treated everyone that way, and his sister did not even get most of the better pick-up lines, (Aileen didn't get most of the worst ones either, though.) She knew it was not like that at all. Besides, at least he did not practice marriage proposals on her; he saved that for his friend Kaylie, also a Bard, who was often his traveling companion when he made his own journeying.

Aileen finished eating and put her plate in one of the sinks, then deposited her letters back in her room and went to see her Companion, Greier, in the Companion's Field, mind-calling him to find his location.

He was where she expected, laying in the sun out in the middle of the field, soaking up the heat. It was one of those days that was perfect in the sun, with a nice breeze every once in a while, but was frigid in the shade. She passed a couple of companions she knew and gave a wave as one nodded to her, but otherwise she didn't see anyone. That was perfect for her. She'd heard that all the equitation classes were doing the obstacle courses today and not riding around in the field, it appeared her information was correct. She lay down in the grass next to Greier and stared up at the sky as the gentle breeze blew the clouds along.

It was hard to think that there was anything like a crisis going on, and though it wasn't quite that bad, it was definitely a problem with all these mysterious events. She'd heard about the incident at Hollytree. Probably not the full story, but enough to know some dangerous things had happened. Supposedly the chosen of Aerore had turned the tide and saved Darkwind and Herald Elspeth, but that had not been confirmed to her yet. She could always wake-up Greier and ask him to get the truth from another companion, but she didn't want to bother him, and it wasn't really important to her right now. She really could not see Aerore having chosen anyone at this point; she was a spinster when it came to having a chosen.

_:A spinster am I: _Aileen flinched, she'd said that aloud by accident and Aerore happened to be right near her. How come she hadn't noticed? Gaaahhh! Aileen laughed nervously as she sat up from the grass to take a look at her eaves-dropper. Usually companions didn't talk to anyone but their Heralds, except in an emergency, but that was starting to change a little, as more people who were not Heralds could mind-speak around the palace and collegium.

"...ah, hi!" Aileen said not knowing quite what to do about the tall mare standing before her in lustrous white. Oddly, Greier didn't seem to be awake, which was well enough considering the kick that he'd get out of the situation if he heard about it. "I, ah, heard you got a chosen! Congratulations!" was all she could think of. She didn't know if she should expect an answer of not, this sort of thing didn't happen very often.

After a moment of no response, Aileen wondered whether Aerore was ignoring her, or just busy in a conversation in mind-speech. It was harder to tell with the companions than it was with the Heralds, who went blank-eyed as if looking at something no one else could see, when they be-spoke their companions. When Aileen figured that it wasn't likely that Aerore would answer her, and was about to lay back down in the grass, Aerore did.

_:Yes, I do have a new chosen.: _Aileen jumped again. _Does she _like _tormenting me this way?_

Apparently she'd said that aloud too, because the horse-being answered with a_ :Yes.:_ Aileen groaned. _Companions, can't live with'em and it's just not worth the trouble you'd get if you tried to melt them down to glue,_ the contrary part of her thought, however she knew that she wouldn't be able to live without her companion Greier, and not just because of the bond, he was her best friend, closer than family could ever be. He was a part of her and she wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

_:You'll probably be seeing him around.:_

She shrugged, "Maybe, it's not like I teach any of the classes though, not even gift lessons, surely you of all people know that. All I've got is mind-speech and something no one really knows about, and besides, it's entirely latent. You know how it is, the Heralds are rotten with mind-speakers; I doubt _I'll_ be the one to teach him if he has it."

_:Oh, he doesn't need gift-training.:_

"Doesn't need it?" Aileen was kind of skeptical. Everyone, without exception, had a gift in the Heralds, even if it was something as obsolete as her bogus gift, so there was no chance that he might _not _have one. He must have had training already.

"Is he Tayledras? Shin'a'in? K'leshya? A mage?" at each guess the companion shook her head.

_:He's from Yinshyang.:_

"Hmmmm, I never _was _very good with geography...even so, I don't think I've ever heard of that city. Is it in Iftel? Is he Iftelian?"

_:It's not a city, it's a country. Or it was until the empress died and it split into scattered regions.:_

Okay...maybe Aerore had finally cracked?

_:He knows Rethwellian but not Valdemaran.:_

"Oh, ahh...that's great. I guess. At least he doesn't have to learn Rethwellian, but then again he'll have to learn Valdemaran won't he?"

_:Well, I'll leave you to your sunbathing; I'm off for a trot around the field:_

"Uh...bye." she said as Aerore trotted away.

_:Oh, yeah,_ she said stopping for a moment, _:If you want to know more about that _"bogus" _gift of yours, you might want to have a chat with my chosen, he's over there.:_ she indicated a person who was sitting next to the fence quite at least fifty yards away, whom she hadn't noticed before.

_That was...odd._

--☼--

Nekimiyah watched from the white fence while Aerore chatted with some person on the other side of the field. He shrugged; maybe they knew each other or something. The person was obviously a Herald, from the white uniform, (the same one he now wore,) and companion she'd been leaning on. What, it seemed, the girl didn't know was that Aerore was not just mind-speaking her, but also her companion, who was pretending to be asleep. He shrugged and went back to his text book.

It was almost humorous. Him, with a text book at his age; but anyone who wasn't willing to learn was nothing more than a fool, and if he wanted to communicate with anyone, he'd have to learn, and soon. Aerore was helping, but she couldn't translate for him, and he couldn't have her translate for others what he said. He would definitely have to learn Valdemaran, if not this Karse language, also.

This is slightly annoying as he already knew enough languages to last anyone a lifetime, even his life-time. Seventeen if you counted the three variations of Kangen and the four of Chanchin. Well, now he was going to know eighteen, it almost seemed ridiculous that there should be that many languages and more in the world.

He was only half paying attention to what he was reading. Mostly he was searching his mind.

In Yinshyang, where Nekimiyah came from, nearly every scholar, priest, or magician learned to make a mind-city. One didn't need magic to do so, for it was a mental exercise that allowed one to sort and arrange their thoughts in an organized fashion that greatly improved memory and information absorbsion. With the mind-city, it was possible to store information outside of regular memory. One had to look for it, but it would always be there for him to sort through when he wished. It also kept unpleasant things from his past out of his immediate present by not allowing him to think about it unless something drastic triggered what scholars called "a memory of a memory".

He'd been having one ever since he'd talked to Herald Talia and the Queen. She had approved his plan for the pacification of the alliance nations and mentioned telling the Herald-Ambassadors to the other nations of his plan. He'd had an odd feeling when she did. He'd had another when Aerore took a tone that was very familiar somehow.

He was trying to figure out why.

He entered the gates of the city and walked through the mingled buildings that were along a winding street that spiraled up the hill that held his immediate memory at the top as the largest building that could be considered the castle or the palace of the city. What he wanted was not in there, but farther down, much farther down. What he sought was something that he knew had happened right after his Masters dead, something that despite his city, he could never keep far from his mind.

His Master, Shaetine Zira-Jhan had been the head of their order until her death at the age of two-hundred and ninety five, when he had been promoted, and asked to take her place, by the Empress of their country. He'd been devastated, and been sent too...

He couldn't remember; he'd have to keep looking around. As he walked down the street he passed the largest building, excepting the "castle" of course. It held all his knowledge of the realms, in a few buildings within the grounds of the other but not part of the building itself, were buildings that had knowledge of demons, necromancers, even mages. If he were to go inside, he'd find books and files containing all he knew on the subjects, organized and categorized within an inch of its life. And there were also doors that took him to other buildings that had similar information. The odd things about these doors, was that the buildings they took you to were often nowhere near the original building.

He continued on and came to one of the darkest buildings in the city. This was the one he'd been looking for, the time right after his master died. He never reviewed these memories. Though it was an odd thing to say, he remembered that these memories were very painful for him. He also noticed that the memoirs inside this particular house, had happened at the about the same time he'd learned Rethwellian.

Coincidence? He thought not.

The details about the language were stored somewhere other than this building, as it was information, and not a memory. His current use of the language _could _have been the source of his inklings, but it wasn't likely. He opened the door-

"You're Aerore's Chosen?" he heard.

He didn't want to go back and answer the voice but it would be horribly rude not to, and he could always do this later. He closed the door and exited the city.

"Yes." he answered. The speaker was the same girl that Aerore had been talking to; at this point he also noticed that Aerore was on the other side of the field and no longer speaking with either the companion or the girl.

Well compared to his age she was a girl. She was at least twenty-two, maybe as old as twenty-five, and his guess was usually good. She was average height, and though skinny, she was very fit. (He had noticed that nearly all Heralds were very fit, this, he was told, was because all had had weapons training and when they graduated from the collegium, they were out in the field a year at a time, living out of the saddle and special way-stations specially placed for their use.)

She had braided auburn hair and brown eyes, nearly black. Her skin was tan, but it looked to be from working out of doors for long periods of time, and not necessarily her natural skin tone. She did not look like the kind that was so extremely strong-willed, to the point that she was hard to be around, but she did look like the kind that did not take being prodded well. And-

Well, that explained it. Now he knew why Aerore had been talking to her. The ability was latent but plenty strong, and it would rouse after a time, especially once he got a hold of her. He would have to test her character, to see how he should handle her.

"Hello," she shook his hand, "I'm Herald Aileen, Chosen of Greier, Mind-speech and something else that's all latent and no one knows about." She extended her hand and he took it.

"Nekymiyah. Mind-speech and other-sight, the same as yours." he said.

--☼--

_"the same as mine,"? How would he know?_

Aileen had come over here, for no other reason then that she was bored, and anyone chosen by Aerore wasn't likely to be hyperactive and _too_-overly talkative. Aileen wanted a conversation, not someone's life story or love-issues. She had been expecting a teenager, if not someone younger, but her Chosen was an adult, Aileen kept trying to pin-point how old he was, and failing. He was black haired, pale-skinned, and green-eyed and falcon-nosed. He was already wearing the white heraldic uniform of a full herald, which was not _too _unusual, (plenty of people who were adults were put directly into whites, especially when they were needed out in the field, or would have their internship at the palace,) except that he did not know Valdemaran.

"How do you know we have the same gift? I've never heard of other-sight before, not as a gift, anyways." She asked him. She was horribly curious as too what this other-sight was. She'd always been slightly jealous of those people who had gifts like fetching and fire-starting, something that someone could see and say, "Wow! That was great!"

"Weren't you told your gifts on your arrival?" he asked her, he seemed fairly interested. Who was this guy?

She shrugged, "I got checked along with everyone else, but we didn't have a very good gift diviner, then, and I never bothered to get it re-checked. I hear Herald Markin is very good. But you didn't answer my last question." she raised her eyebrow, curious as to the answer.

Now he shrugged, "The companions are very good at dropping hints, and I saw that you have other-sight, when Aerore went to speak with you."

"Those companions, nosey little busy-bodies aren't they?"

_:I heard that.:_ came the derisive mind-voice of Aerore.

"You were meant to!" Aileen called across the field; the horse just whickered as she trotted towards them. Nekimiyah smirked slightly, as Aileen continued. "I'm not sure I like this business of companions talking to whomever they like." she complained, to the man. "It used to be that all you had to worry about is the opinions and constructive criticism of _one _companion. Now they're all over the place!" Aerore snuffed, at her comment but Nekimiyah ignored it.

"I wouldn't know, but it does sound just _awful_!" he said, he put a hand to his face, as if the idea was just shocking.

"Yeah! It...Wait a second...are you _teasing_ me?" she asked indignantly, once she had noticed the overly sympathetic tone he was using with her.

"She catches on rather quickly doesn't she Aerore?" he mock whispered to his companion in a voice that virtually dripped sarcasm. The whole scenario was even more insulting since it was obvious that he had meant her to hear; if he had not he would have just mind-spoke Aerore.

"You're teasing me! What the Hell why?" she said angrily; she could be a bitch if she wanted to. Aileen hadn't done anything! She wasn't going to take this!

"Or maybe it was just a fluke." Nekimiyah shrugged his shoulders and said after Aileen pulled out a fist full of insults so foul they weren't worth repeating.

"—what did I ever do to you anyways? Hey!"

"Hmmm, this reaction is definitely going to hinder you if you come across a Necromancer who is particularly insulting. And this is quite probable considering nearly all of them _are_." His face was now serene with no sign of the mocking expression it had had only moments ago. "Better get used to it, my dear. I'm afraid that after I tell Herald Talia how I've found a suitable novice among her own, you'll be rather stuck with me. I intend to get this anger out of you, and this tendency to complain, as well, it'll only make you miserable; and I know this from experience." He nodded as if agreeing with his own advice.

_What the hell?_ She heard a horse-whicker-snicker in the background as she watched Nekimiyah get up from the grass, and head toward the palace, with Aerore in tow. She vaguely noticed, that he was fairly tall but not in an over-powering way. His body type was the lean, whip-cord muscle type; made for quick speed, maneuverability, and a deceptive strength that one usually associated with bulging muscles.

"Oh, yes," he said turning around, "The stallion over there, seems to have been in deep conversation with my lady, here. Perhaps he has some answers, yes?" and he continued on his path. She whirled around to face Greier.

_:I knew you were in on it! No one—and I mean_ **_no one_** _can sleep **that** soundly! Not even a companion:_ She mind-yelled as she rounded on Greier. The Companion shot up from his position as a sleeping horse in the clover, and started running flat-out away from the area.

"Hey! Get back here!" she immediately darted after him.

_:I thought you always wanted to know what your gift was:_ He mind-spoke her in a slightly whiney voice. She couldn't tell if he was nervous of her anger or mocking her. Hadn't she had enough from that Nekimiyah fellow and Aerore?

_:Not if it means I have to be stuck with **that**_ _guy! Just because I'm a Herald doesn't mean I have to like everyone! **Especially**_ _not him.:_ She answered. The whole ordeal had made no sense from the very beginning. What was a Necromancer anyways, for that matter? What did Talia have to do with anything? By this time she was tired and collapsed on the green grass and clover again, leaving Greier to look up expectantly every few seconds, waiting for her to make a move.

It was almost embarrassing to admit it, but this sort of thing happened all the time between them. Greier was infamous for doing things without her telling her, and she was equally as infamous for getting angry and chasing him around the field. Unfortunately, he always got away.

"Truce?"

_:Truce.:_ Greier moved to stand over her and she looked into his deep blue eyes.

She sighed, "But did it _have _to be _that _guy?" she grumbled up at him. Greier's mind-laugh echoed in her mind.

* * *

Okay, reviews again!

**Dragonborn**, I don't really know what your talking about with Velgarth...sorry. That just totally confused me. But thanks for the review, sorry it took so long, here's another chappy!

Everyone please review! You could have your name **here**!

Actually, if you review, you're certain to have your name here eventually, but whatever. I Love you all!

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This is _revision information_! Yes, I've _revised_ this chapter! I'm going backwards; don't ask me why, I just am. I'm not replying to reviews on the revised chapters, I think it just messes with the natural order of things, so any reviews on this chapter and the other new revised chapters will be answered in chapter six, which isn't up yet. But I do have something fun for you all:

**YKYLMLBTMW…**

_(You-know-you-like-Mercedes-Lackey-books-too-much-when…)_

You add about twenty new words into your _Microsoft Word dictionary_. These words include: Collegium, Valdemar, Valdemaran, Rethwellian, Karse, Karsite, and Shin'a'in, K'leshya, Tayledras, Darkwind, Talia, Gwena, Karles, Shandi, Darian, Errold's Grove, Sun-priest, Vkandis, Keisha, and Hansa!

And that's just doing this revision and not counting the stuff like Nekimiyah, and Aileen, and Greier. . Enjoy the revision people, and Review!


	6. Sangisangi: The difference between Seein...

I had no idea that the Valdemar Universe was called Velgarth. Thanks for telling me that **Dragonborn**! - Well I don't own Velgarth, Misty does, but anything you don't recognize is probably mine!

Alright, my computer FINALLY has a program with spell check! Are you excited? I am! This means less spelling and grammar mistakes, which I know you all have been frustrated about. On that elusive day that is known as 'someday', I will fix the five previous chapters, but until then…well, I'm afraid they're just going to sit there.

**Ruin ● Resurrection**

**By LGR**

**Chapter Six: Sangi-sangi—The Difference between Seeing and Understanding**

--☼--

Adept Firesong K'Treva sat down on the most comfortable cushion in the _ekele_ shared by him and Silverfox. But despite the extra-pushiness that the cushion provided, he was not at all relaxed.

He was tense. He was irritable. He was down-right _not_ having a good time, and though he loved Silverfox dearly, he wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"Oh pretty bird, that look is not at all becoming on you." Silverfox said brightly, flashing his most charming smile. Firesong's bond-bird, Aya, was shamelessly begging Silverfox for treats. Silverfox was shamelessly giving them to him.

Firesong had meant to keep it to himself, had meant to withhold the information from Silverfox, but this time, as with nearly every other time, Silverfox somehow managed to turn his will to water with no more than a smile. It just wasn't fair.

"Are you ready to tell me now, _Ashke_?" Silverfox asked him kindly.

Firesong sighed, and rubbed his eye. "It's this business about 'necromancers.' I know they're there. I can tell. The Land tells me they're there, it rejects them. I've been going after them for the last couple of days, and I should have caught them by now; or the scouts should have caught them by now; or the towns-people or Ghost-cat clan should have caught them by now. These Mages should be in Haven getting a sentence from the Queen or at K'Vala undergoing punishment, not out free! But somehow they get away at the last minute. They jump through realms; physically! I…" he hesitated, "I didn't know it was possible to do so, unless one didn't have a corporeal body, like the avatars and some of the Goddess-sworn _Kal'enedral_. And I don't see how we're going to catch them if they keep doing this. I can't follow them, I've tried." He rubbed his forehead as Silverfox put his arm around him in comfort.

"I don't know what they're planning, Silverfox. I'm really worried about this. We'll manage, I'm sure, and I don't know what's going to happen next, but whatever it is, I don't know what I'll be able to do to stop it."

"None of us know, Dear-heart," Silverfox said soothingly, "you can't be expected to know everything; No mortal does, and perhaps even She cannot be expected to know what will happen. Do not bring yourself down, and you are not alone: Darian, Keisha, Shandi, Herald Anda and your father and the rest of us. We're in it together, we will think of something, but why worry too much about the future, it only hampers your ability to see the present."

Firesong sighed, "I suppose, but I hope a solution comes soon, or I'll have to send a message to Haven saying we aren't doing too well, and they've got enough problems as it is."

"Don't worry, _Ashke_, everything turns out eventually."

--☼--

Solaris took the spy-glass that the Sunsguard General handed her and held it to her eye. She, Hansa, and a mass Sun-priests and Sunsguard officers, were crowded on an elevated platform built on a hill over looking the town of Dawnshill. She had just finished the Sunset prayers to the Sunlord, but due to the clouded sky, the Sun's light had faded into dusk prematurely. It was dark, but she could just make out black shadows, moving throughout the town. Solaris dropped the spyglass from her eye and turned to face the Officers.

"Does anyone know what they're doing?" She asked them, watching smoke rise from the chimney of a building as she looked into the dark expanse; she didn't need to specify who 'they' were.

"There were very few of them at first," The Sunsguard General reported, "And they were all corpses of the dead—"

"Corpses?" she interrupted, "Where did the corpses come from? We burn and inurn our dead."

"They came from the woods, Holiness, or so the few remaining villagers tell us. Five days ago ten people disappeared in the night. The next night the ten people came back, dead and savagely attacking anyone they came across. But it wasn't only the corpses of people; there were the carcasses of animals: dear, wild cats, badgers, raptors, and bears. But the bodies were mutated, like the change-creatures from the times of the mage-storms, except dead; there were hundreds of them.

"However, there were not only dead, but great things in great swathes and shrouds of white fabric with green designs, covering head-dresses and hiding their faces. The townsfolk refer to them as Vale-Ghosts. They are what have been keeping us from decimating the lot of them." He finished in disgust.

At this point, the General stopped speaking and Sun-Priest Laimen began where he left off, "The corpses, though bad enough, can be…well, _re-_killed…once some of your own hack them up enough so that they can't move, but the Vale-Ghosts, you see, they are always physically protected by the ghouls, but they have their own magic that _absorbs our magic_. We can't _magically_ do anything to them, _either_! In fact, it harms our mages! The dead corpses are vulnerable during the day—they char and burn in direct sunlight for some reason—and we think theses vale-ghosts have been manipulating the weather to keep it cloudy—"

"Have you tried attacking during the day?" She asked, and hoped that she wasn't the first to suggest this to them. Embarrassing would be an understatement if they'd over-looked this obvious-seeming solution.

Everyone blanched and became eerily silent "Yes, holiness." Sun-Priest Laimen finally answered, "During the day, there is a perimeter about a mile around the town, any thing that crosses the perimeter instantly goes insane."

The silence continued until Solaris whispered, "insane?"

"Yes, irreparably so," Laimen answered, "We have some of the survivors if you would like to see them…" he offered but she shook her head.

"And this barrier isn't up during the night?"

"No, Holiness."

Solaris paused, "I believe you; perhaps I will go to see the survivors later." He bowed his head in acceptance and, perhaps, as a thank-you for her trust. "But," she continued, "You still have yet to answer my first question."

"Well," The Sunsguard General began, ", they swiftly took over the town. The Villagers report that the dead searched every building, and they've begun a fire in what the villagers say is the potter's kiln. They've been working there for the past few days, mostly during the day, but mostly they're in the buildings. But we can't figure out what they're making or doing in there, unless of course they're making pottery." The general finished in a dry voice, and making it clear to everyone that he thought the idea was preposterous.

"Who knows what devilry they're cooking up in that town?" someone whispered. It wasn't a question necessarily meant to gain an answer but Solaris gave one anyways.

"They do, and perhaps Vkandis, but naught else. Gentlemen, we must carry on in the face of this hardship. We have done the best we can and we must continue till The Sun Lord grants us the means to victory." She stated.

_:Well said, Sun of the Sun.:_ Hansa told her.

_:Thank you.:_ She answered.

--☼--

_:Why am I here again:_

_:Just shut-up Aileen.:_

She mind-snuffed at Greier, _:FINE.:_

She been told, and by the Heraldic Council no-less, that she was being put into the keeping of one Nekimiyah Jigan-Rhion, that she was to be a good Herald and learn what he had to teach, because everyone was counting on them to save everyone.

She knew it was un-Herald-like say, but her mind kept screaming, and what about _me_? What about what _I_ want? She felt ashamed whenever the thought crossed her mind. And it really was true, what Nekimiyah had said after they'd met: She did complain; she almost annoyed herself sometimes with it. And she couldn't bear being taunted; her temper always got the better of her in such situations.

But even so, it was annoying her that he was supposed to be teaching her when mostly what she was doing was teaching _him_ Valdemaran. _You know he can't help that he doesn't know Valdemaran_, her conscience (which sounded suspiciously like Greier) said. _And besides_, it continued, y_ou're only correcting what he says, and he's still trying to teach you. If you'd listen, maybe you'd learn something._

I _am_ listening, Aileen argued, but you can't argue with your conscience, because it's always right and lets you know it.

"—you understand?" The Herald asked turning his head to look at her with his right eye, and looking so much like a bird in deep examination of an object, she was slightly unnerved.

"Uhhh, no." It was annoying to her that he insisted speaking only in Valdemaran and not any in Rethwellian. He said it would help him learn, but he sometimes mumbled in something else she didn't know that must be his regular language.

"You listen?" He asked sounding slightly peeved.

"Will I listen? Or did I listen?"

"Did you listen?"

"Well, I was listening but it went right over my head." She said, realizing too late her idiom might not be understood. Apparently, however, he understood it _quite_ well. He really was learning the language amazingly quickly; granted Aerore was probably feeding him some info, but still.

"If you listen, you understand gift of—_your_ gift." He corrected himself mid-sentence. "Say you understand. _Sangi-sangi_!"

"Uh, _sangi,_" She repeated the word hesitantly and feeling stupid. But he shook his head.

"Say once, mean you see. Say twice, mean you understand. Information, understanding; different as what and why." He gave a sharp nodded, "Say you understand. _Sangi_, if you see but not—_do not—_ understand. _Sangi-sangi_, if you understand."

She thought she knew what he meant. It was like the difference between knowing that a companion wasn't an ordinary horse, and having one start mind-speaking you.

"_Sangi-sangi_." She said, wondering who it was that was supposed to be learning a new language. "What language is this anyways?" she asked curiously.

"Sanctuzahn." He answered. "Where speak, far; Very far."

"I figured as much." He rolled his eyes at her and mumbled something.

"I speak, you listen, _Sangi-sangi_?"

"_Sangi-sangi_!"

"_Enyam_." She guessed that meant 'good'.

They were sitting—well Nekimiyah was sitting; Aileen was lying down—in the grass outside in Companion's Field in the sun. She was lying next to the sun-basking Greier and Aerore was standing not too far off, chewing at the grass.

"Rethwellians call Other-sight; Valdemarans call it Mage-sight. We call it _Illuayka_—or only 'sight'. Other-sight is decent approximation. Mage-sight is misleading term. No see only magic. See others also."

Aileen almost groaned; she was hoping it would be something she could show-off. Somehow Nekimiyah knew what she was thinking—he always seemed to know—and said sternly, "No complain, some get _no_ gift. Be happy," as if because he had told her to do so, she should automatically comply.

"Do you always know what I'm thinking?" she demanded to know, "are you in my mind?" realizing that that could be a possibility she strengthened her shields as strong as she could.

"No in your mind. I know your mind because you like someone I know." He said shaking his head sympathetically. "It scare me almost." His eye brows slide together slightly as if he was just now realizing the repercussions of what he said, and then he laughed.

Aileen was reasonably sure that Aerore hadn't said anything to him. Though she sometimes had trouble telling when a companion was mind-speaking to anyone, she always new when a Herald was, even when there were no outward signs like when their eyes glazed over.

She razed her eye-brow, "What's so funny? Who is it?"

He looked as if he was thinking then said "Not telling."

She groaned. "What are you, twelve?"

"Twelve? You have eyes check recently?" She nearly screamed in frustration, she hated it when people made fun of her and _especially_ hated it when they did so to draw attention away from _themselves_.

_:Aileen. Calm down, he's only going to be like this until you learn not to let your temper get the better of you, so you might as well just deal with it.:_ Greier advised. She figured he was right but only the fact that she was supposed to be a Herald, and above acting the way her temper wanted her to, kept her from beating him to a bloody pulp or cursing the living daylights out of him.

_Havens, but being a Herald is hard work._

_:You'd think you'd have realized this after—What, two years as a Herald and four as a trainee:_ Greier asked. She didn't bother to dignify that question with an answer.

"What he say?" she almost jumped. She kept forgetting that, supposedly, he could see when anyone was using any magic or mind-magic.

"Not Telling." He rolled his eyes. She couldn't believe that he was supposed to be over three hundred years old, especially when he did something childish like—well, like the whole conversation they'd just had.

"I awaken your gift. No, no get up, stay on ground." He told her when she started to sit up; she complied. Before she could even think about what this would entail, she felt something firmly grab her mind. It was like someone shoved their hand through a thick sun veil, in her mind, that she didn't even know existed because she'd lived with it all her life, and pulled it clean off.

Firstly, she was blinded, she couldn't tell if she blacked out or not but when she could think again, she felt slightly oppressed, and she realized the shield was back up, but she wasn't the one who was holding it there.

"Oh, my—"she swiftly sat up and felt her head start pounding and her vision go fuzzy, but she didn't let herself sink back to the grass, after a moment her vision cleared, but the oppressive feeling remained, and so did the head-ache.

"You know how to shield, yes?" she heard a voice say. She was going to nod affirmation but stopped after the slightest movement toward doing so made her head throb.

"Yes," she answered.

"_Enyam_. Do so within the shield I made for you. Once it is up, I will put mine down."

She did as the voice said, and put up a shield. After a moment, the oppressive feeling disappeared and she felt like herself again.

_Well, almost like myself_, she thought as an exceptionally painful throb was made known in her head.

"You could have maybe been a little less rough." She said rubbing her temples.

"It because I am used to bludgeoning the minds of Necromancers that I become so heavy-handed, I _am_ sorry, if it make you feel better." Nekimiyah said softly, and to Aileen he sounded sincere.

"I guess it makes me feel emotionally better, but I don't think _anything_ could do the same for this throbbing—oh, thanks." She said as he handed her a flask of something. Drinking it she realized that it was the headache medicine the healers gave out, "When did you have time to get this?" He just shrugged, but at this point her head hurt too much for her to even _think_ of arguing over it.

"It all looks the same." She said, "I thought it was supposed to look different somehow?"

_:You still have your shields up, Aileen.:_ Greier informed her.

"Oh, ehehehe…" she laughed self-consciously and withdrew the shields that had become second-nature to her. "OH MY GOD! LOOK AT THAT! AND THAT!—AND THAT THING! AND—GREIER YOU'RE BLINDING, AND WHAT IS THIS GREEN STUFF IN EVERYTHING! AND RED! WHAT IS THAT! AND HOW COME YOU HAVE BLUE ALL IN YOU!" She spouted in an endless flow of exclamations and pointing at things with hectic gestures.

But before she could even begin to demand that Nekimiyah tell her what everything meant, she heard a giggle from behind her and whipped around. She almost staggered back, and as soon as she reclaimed her balance, she began to wonder when it was that she had stood up from the grass in the first place.

She swiftly covered her eyes but it did not good. _Idiot, it doesn't have to do with actually seeing with your eyes! Shield you blanker!_ She thought to herself, and threw her shields back up again, but lessening the strength so that she could still See but not be blinded.

"The heart stone; that must be the heart stone. No wonder all those mages are always ogling it." She heard some restrained laughter again, and turned her attention to the fence. It was Herald Karen and a bunch of trainees, out in the field for equitation lessons.

"This is all _your_ fault, you know?" she said to Nekimiyah.

"Sangi-Sangi, and I take _complete_ responsibility." He said, but, as he very well knew, the fact that he knew he was responsible didn't help the fact that she was now beat-red in front of the trainees. Even thought he may have understood her embarrassment, nothing could save her from this situation. _I guess this is my just desserts for all the un-Herald-like things I've done lately_, she thought.

She swore she could hear Nekimiyah snickering, even though she was looking straight at him and his face remained infuriatingly blank, which in fact, compounded her embarrassment.

"Hey, Aileen, what red stuff?" Herald Karen asked slyly.

She could already tell that this was going to be bad.

--☼--

It's your favorite time… Review time!

I got another one from **Dragonborn: **I guess all I can say here is thanks for the review, and yes, the spelling was bad. I know. I'd never even heard about it being called Velgarth, and at this point I'm kind of angry that I didn't. But also, concerning the review you had before that I couldn't answer because I didn't know, Yes, I know there isn't any necromancy in Velgarth, but I decided that in my fan fiction, there was going to be. And it's not exactly the sort of, magic stuff that everyone usually refers to as Necromancy, it's more like demon summoning and stuff.

Oh yes, and Dragonborn, I read some of your fan fiction, I'll put up a review eventually I just haven't had much time. . 

And also I figure I might as well say that no, they aren't actual dead souls of people inhabiting the dead bodies, or the people who's bodies they were brought back to life. I figured that I'd say so, before someone said that it wasn't possible, because everyone gets judged by Vkandis/ Kal'enel or whatever and etc.

If that confused you and you hadn't had a problem before, then don't worry about it.

And everyone, remember to review-review-review! And I will love you forever in a friendly-non-sexual-way!


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